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Last year Empatika partnered with Stats4SD to conduct a mixed methods baseline study commissioned by UNICEF Indonesia to support the start of their programme on supporting girls to thrive in West Papua. This programme will aim to achieve three main outcomes that include: i) building a positive school climate to keep girls in school and to prevent violence in schools; ii) providing a quality learning package for primary and lower secondary students to improve their learning outcome and their healthy behaviours; and iii) providing safe and self-empowering opportunities for adolescents to actively learn, discuss and express their views on key issues affecting their lives. (click on each image to learn more) This study explored a wide range of issues including literacy, WASH, in-school participation, life skills, bullying and violence. It is intended to help develop an accurate picture of the current situation in targeted schools, support adaptation of programme interventions, strategies and approaches, and provide a baseline for future programme impact assessment. The quantitative portion of this mixed methods study used a survey conducted with students and teachers at eight schools (4 SMP and 4 SD) in the Sorong district of West Papua. During the survey an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) was also conducted with grade 2 and 3 students. Following the survey fieldwork our researchers returned to conduct a RCA immersion in three of the survey locations, staying with some of the students to gain deeper insights and learn more from the students, their families, and the surrounding community. School observations were also conducted both during the survey fieldwork and the immersions in order to help complete the picture around these issues. One of the unique aspects of the study was that most of the researchers that participated in the quantitative portion also went back for the qualitative immersions. This was the first time for many of our researchers to conduct a survey and we were lucky to have Alex from Stats4SD visit in late July to train our team before the survey fieldwork. Our researchers also introduced different icebreaking games as part of the survey process to help students feel comfortable and relaxed (see photo above). With many of the researchers going back for the immersions, this meant that researchers had already developed some relationships with students and others in the community and were already familiar with some of the context and challenges in that area. This also meant that during analysis of the findings when our study leads had follow-up questions or clarifications with our research team, they had multiple points of reference that they could draw upon. The study leads (including the two Empatika leads along with Alex from Stats4SD) also met for a two-day joint analysis session to lead into the report writing process. Along with our partnership with Stats4SD on this study, we also received support from Dr. Lucia Retno and her team in designing and analysis of the EGRA test. You can read the whole report here. Some of the key findings from the study include:
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The Empatika Jakarta office joined our international team members in working from home beginning the week 16 March. Although our research studies and fieldwork are currently on hold, we hope to be able to use this time for internal capacity building, working on our training programs, and catching up on a variety of other tasks. We are also looking for ways that we can be involved in the response to this pandemic, especially in Indonesia.  Some of our core team members catch-up at the end of a recent team meeting  Empatika started March with a follow-up to our study last year on Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) in Central Sulawesi and North Lombok. This new study in East Lombok will be an integrated mixed methods study with surveys followed-up by immersion research and participatory focus group discussions. There will be baseline and endline phases that aim to track changes from the beginning to end of this cash transfer program.
During the process, we will be exploring how people’s livelihoods have been affected by the 2018 earthquake, how people perceive the assistance, the process and mechanism, how they spend the money, and the impacts that it has on their lives. Our team conducted the initial survey in early March, working with a quantitative programmer to design the questionnaires. Over eight days, nine researchers from our team visited four different villages receiving the assistance and interviewed more than 500 people. The remaining parts of the study are currently on hold due to Covid-19, as are the cash disbursements themselves. We hope that it won’t be long before the situation is safe enough to continue the cash disbursements, as this money will no doubt be especially helpful for families in these communities due to the limitations placed on activities and business by the corona outbreak. We also look forward to returning to these communities when it is safe to do so, and will be expanding our own security protocols to ensure safety both for our own researchers along with the study participants. |
Little Foot Blog
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September 2021
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